[CW] High speed sending...

[Werner Jochem]

> Hello: I am having trouble sending much faster than about 25 wpm,
> I can copy about 30wpm and am working on increasing that.  I learned
> on a straight key and after six years I got a paddle, that was hard,
> but can now use both quite well.   Any advice?
> Andrew VE1EX

I'm facing similar problems. Copy is okay up to 40 wpm (and more - it
strongly depends on the "quality" of the sended code). I got a lot of
problems with QSD when sending at a speed higher than 30 wpm.

Finally I asked some of the high speed cracks. I got two advices:

1. Get a high quality paddle (I'm using a Vibroplex Square Racer and a
Schurr Profi 2).
2. Practise, practise, practise ....

Actually I practise about half an hour every day at a speed of 40 wpm (oh
nooo ... of course not sending on the band ;-) ). Mostly I take articles
from a newspaper or a magazine. Another good exercise is "to play qso".
Imagine a qso and you want to tell a story. The advantage of this method is
that you don't have to read a text from a piece of paper, but to form words
and sentences in your brain. This meets a real qso much better.

Doing so for about four weeks I notice a slow progress in my sending
abilities. QSD lessens, reliability improves.

BTW: in my experience it's better to switch off QSK when sending high speed
cw. You will get less noise and it's easier to focus on the forming of the
code.

73 cwfe Joe

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DK7VW [N7VW] - Werner 'Joe' Jochem
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